Category Archives: The Prairie Home
You Can Make This (for free)
The tutorial site, You Can Make This, has tons of freebies on this page.
Waste not, want not: children’s clothing tutorials
One of the most intriguing things I found in recent weeks were tutorials for making children's clothes out of repurposed sweaters and tees etc. Soule Mama got me thinking with her baby hats. Then came the woolies. But I was really hooked with the cotton knit pants. Basically those were made by tracing a leg pattern from any elastic waist pants that currently fit your child. I made oodles of those when the older guys were little. EASY peasy. Now I am thinking of making a narrow legged version for Tess to wear as leggings. Little girls can be so hard on tights. We rarely get more than a couple wears out of them. I am all about free.
Here is a round up of similar tutorials. They each have multiple tutorials per post:
Be Still My Heart!
I saw a review of the Vintage Moth site today and about fell off my chair. Wow! It is chock full of vintage clip art and ephemera for crafting (think: cards, wall art, baby gifts, bags, scrapbooks, journals…) Gorgeous images for whatever creative juices pulse through your being.
Go! Now! Get yourself some blank cds and SAVE THEM. : )
Vintage Baby
I can't get enough of baby anything right now. Visions of vintage baby goods are dancing through my head. It started with Flea Market Baby.Actually it didn't. It likely started waaaay back when I couldn't resist pieces like this:
There is just something so wonderful about old baby things. So when I happened across The Baby Gardner I was drooling unapologetically. The blog is even more delightful complete with vintage patterns and more.
My Retro Baby is a must see too. The room decor in particular.
Lots of inspiration at Baby Goes Vintage. These are new items but they are great for ideas for showcasing flea market finds.
Dolly Dilettante is a delightful vintage style baby blog, as is Ophelia Payne.
We have a small collection of vintage baby items. Some are my own vintage lol. My aunt made these hip dresses in the 60's for your's truly.
A strong streak of sentiment prompted me to scour the net for vintage embroidery patterns which have kept my hands occupied as we wait, and breathe, and contract, and wonder which of these times is going to be the real deal. Heaven only knows and guessing makes a person jumpy so I just keep stitching! Here is a bib made for a baby shower I missed last week. I love vintage scotties patterns. Real live ones – not so much. ; ) I finished a little lamb but need to give it a backing yet. There is another scotty in the works for our baby. Will post as we go.
Designing for special needs
I discovered the Wonder Time site this week and was especially interested in this article about designing homes for special needs kids. They highlighted thoughtful changes that make a big impact on little people such as raised beds in the garden, indoor swings, and moving the furniture to the sides of the rooms versus filling the interior spaces as is more correct from a design perspective. (but is a nightmare for wheelchair navigation.
I especially loved the built-in dollhouse and my head is abuzz with ideas for same. I would like to get a wood house for Tess but the truth is most of the houses I have seen (in plastic or wood) are just awfully small for clumsy hands to work in. This one looks much more user friendly and hey, you can't knock it over. : )
car mat
I got some questions about Brendan's car mat and have been meaning to get back to you all on them. Our mat is nearly 20 yrs old now! My sister in law made it for our oldest boys way back then. It is lovely. The base is heavy green twill and there are pockets along the bottom to store cars. She appliqued roads, trees, and houses. There is even a pond with little duck buttons on it. There are also green pom pom shrubs here and there.
To be honest our big boys didn't play with it much. We were slow to the less is more game. They just had far too much stuff and tended not to concentrate much on any of it. Made for a LOT of clean up and hassle and waste. (not to mention wound up kids) Brendan and Tess have a fraction of the playthings they had. In fact Brendan's cars are among his few toys at the moment. He REALLY enjoys them though. Lesson learned.
Some of you loved the mat but feared your sewing skills or lack thereof would prevent you from making a similar one. There are still options! You can use fusible interfacing like Wonder Under to iron on your roads and accessories. Or you can just paint! With all the fabric paint available you can make very nice roads etc. Just be sure to cut your base with pinking shears or iron it under with Stitch Witchery or something to keep it from fraying.
Lovely Links
Busy wknd here. Wanted to just share some of the sites that have kept me company during my bouts of late pregnancy insomnia:
Maya Made – check out the barn restoration. Check out the whole darn thing actually. ; ) Definitely a Soule Mama feel to it.
The Inspired Room – the reason I don't need to buy magazines anymore! She scours cyberspace and manages to find exactly what works in this house.
The newest Ralph Lauren Collection for the home. Must be the chill in the air. The plaids and florals are looking more and more attractive as the temp dips.
For school inspiration:
Itty Bitty Love - a Montessori teacher blogs about her classroom. Lots of tray inspiration here.
Window Star Tutorial
Oh bless her! If you ever wondered how they make those gorgeous paper window stars go to Hinds House and learn how. Gosh I have seen such lovely things this week. I have blog posts saved up and coming out of my ears. : )
A line skirt
Moira and I finished her first project last week:
Starry Sky Journal 